Tailoring for style and fit dates back to the twelfth or thirteenth centuries when the focus of clothing shifted from concealing a person's body to accentuating human form. A tailor alters clothing by reconstructing the human body in fabric, which, before the sewing machine, required many hours of manual sewing. The advent of the sewing machine, however, vastly improved the efficiency of tailoring clothing. Thus, more garments may be tailored in a shorter period of time.
Unfortunately, despite the advantages of sewing machines, most sewing machines are relatively expensive and usually have a steep learning curve. Most people are generally unfamiliar about how to use a sewing machine and generally lack the skillset to properly tailor their own clothes. Thus, most people generally need the assistance of a tailor. Hiring a tailor, however, can become quite expensive and typically requires multiple trips to ensure a proper fitting. Additionally, a tailor may be even more expensive when garments require hand stitching, a very time-consuming task, which generally requires several days or weeks to complete the alterations.
In addition to the cost and time in tailoring, the changes made by tailored clothing are often permanent. The tailor often measures and removes excess fabric to accommodate a person's body shape or size at the time. Thus, when a person's body shape changes, the tailored clothing may have an insufficient amount of fabric for letting out or further tailoring. Furthermore, additional alterations may be done towards the tailored clothing, such alterations generally require additional time and expense.
Over the years, various tailoring devices and methods have been introduced to remedy some of the above deficiencies. For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2008/0295226, filed by Schioppa (“Schioppa”), discloses a clothes-buttoning system, where one or more buttons correspond to one or more button eyelets to help accommodate the size of the garment. While the system in the Schioppa reference allows the wearer to adjust the size of the garment by placing a button in eyelets at various locations on the garment, the Schioppa system neither has the flexibility nor the capacity to accommodate all desired garment sizes due to the predetermined and permanent locations of the buttons and eyelets. Moreover, only the part of the garment that contains the buttons and eyelets at their predetermined locations can be altered, and thus, altering the size of the garment is very limited. The additional buttons and eyelets may also be visible to a viewer, thereby making the garment less aesthetically pleasing.
U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2013/0298313, filed by Mack (“Mack”), also discloses an undergarment attachment that allows the waistline of women's pant and skirt to be altered. The undergarment attachment in the Mack reference, however, fails to disclose a device that can alter any part of a garment. Furthermore, the undergarment attachment in the Mac reference is limited to only altering waistlines of pants and skirts for women.
Furthermore, Canadian Patent Application Publication Number CA2804342, filed by Brown et al. (“Brown”), discloses a clothing accessory that attaches to clothing by way of garter fasteners. The clothing accessory disclosed in Brown changes the appearance and fit of the clothing and allows the user to alter the clothing without having to make permanent alterations. The Brown clothing accessory, however, is very limited in its use and is overly expensive due to its ornamental and decorative nature.
Thus, what is needed is a tailoring device that allows a layperson to work quickly, inexpensively, and efficiently to non-permanently tailor an article of clothing without having any expertise in sewing. Preferably, the tailoring device is lightweight and flexible, so as to provide comfort to the wearer and to not weigh the wearer down. Additionally, the tailoring device is preferably removable and can be used or reused anywhere on the garment or on a different garment. Furthermore, the tailoring device is preferably not visible to anyone viewing the altered garment of the wearer and the garment still looks clean and attractive.